Something to Believe In
by stardust123987
Summary: Leaving her job to move out to Boston for her grandfather hadn't been part of Eddie's plan. Being witness to a murder was certainly not a part of her plan either. While the best laid plans can go awry, they can also lead to new roads and beginnings.


Leaving her job to move out to Boston for her grandfather hadn't been part of Eddie's plan. Being witness to a murder was certainly not a part of her plan either. While the best laid plans can go awry, they can also lead to new roads and beginnings.

November 2, 1999

The Emergency Room at Goldvalley Medical Center was quiet on the balmy Thursday night. Only a few patients had come in that night and there was only one person in the waiting chairs. Most nights, the ER could get hectic, but with all the nurses on staff and no full moon, it seemed that the night could lead to the next morning on an easy note. The occasional page of a doctor or ringing of the phones cut through the white noise that filled the waiting area as a man sat in the chairs to the right of the nurses station desk.

The clock on the north wall read 2:14 am when the door from the urgent care center was thrust open, a young woman rushing through the door with her head on a swivel trying to locate her destination. Upon seeing the nurses desk, she ran straight over, almost toppling over the oversized purse and small travel bag that were around her left shoulder.

"Excuse me? Excuse me?!" She yelled trying to get one of the nurses attentions. "Please, can you help me, I'm looking for Albert Byrne. He came in a few hours ago, they told me it was something to do with his heart?" Her eyes darted back and forth to the two nurses at the station trying to decipher who could tell her the answers to her questions the fastest.

"I'm sorry, miss. We can only provide family with medical information on patients. Are you related to Mr. Byrne?" a brunette nurse who looked to be in her mid-forties replied.

"Yes, I'm sorry. I'm his granddaughter. He's my grandfather. My mother's father. Is he okay? Is he here?" the woman asked rapidly.

The responding nurse smiled warmly and nodded, "Yes, miss, he's here. He is still in surgery though." Looking down at a pad folio before her, she continued, "And can I get your name for the visiter sign-in?"

"Oh God, yes!" the woman answered. "Sorry, my name is Eddi-Edith. Edith Quinn. Here is my ID." Reaching into her purse and grabbing her license out of her wallet and holding it to the nurse.

"That's quite alright, Miss Quinn." the nurse said, not taking the card , just writing down the name in her book. "We just needed a name. Now, I believe another nurse called you as you are Albert's emergency contact. Is that correct?"

"Yes, that is correct. I got a call at work and got on the first flight out here. You said he's in surgery, is everything going okay? It's been over 4 hours since I got the call but he's still in surgery?" Eddie asked quickly, a frown on her face.

The nurse smiled warmly again, not being fazed by the onslaught of questions. "Yes, dear, it's quite a long surgery, but the fact that he is able to be under that long is a good sign, especially for a man of his age. Now, as I'm sure you were told, he suffered from quite a severe heart attack and Dr. Horner is performing emergency heart bypass..."

Eddie slowly tuned out, nodding as the nurse explained her grandfather's condition and what the surgery would do, if it was successful. Trying to pay attention and not get lost in the nurse's words as she fought off her tears, exhaustion, and confusion, Eddie noticed that the woman had stopped talking.

"Oh, I'm, sorry," Eddie started, "Yes, that all sounds..."

"It's quite alright dear. The surgery could go a little while longer, but we will get updates as they progress." The nurse comforted, motioning at the seats in the waiting area. "Why don't you take a seat and when I hear of any updates I'll let you know. Does that sound okay?"

Eddie nodded, "Yes, thank you. I would appreciate that a lot. Um, is there a bathroom here though? I came from the airport in such a rush..."

"Of course, just over to your left, dear." the kind nurse replied.

Smiling and nodding her head in thanks, Eddie made her way to the restroom and walked immediately over to the first sink and leaned on the venire taking deep breaths trying to calm herself.

"Everything will be okay. Pa will be fine. He's always fine. He won't leave you too." Eddie assured herself in the quiet of the bathroom. Looking at herself in the mirror and nodding, as if completing her own internal dialogue with herself, she left her purse and travel bag on the floor and used the restroom.

Walking out of the restroom, feeling much better and having splashed water in her face as a momentary wake up, she walked back to the waiting room that she had entered just 10 minutes ago.

Lifting her bags back to her shoulder, Eddie made her way to the chairs to the right of the desk and sat across from the only other visitor there. Sinking to a chair and dropping her purse in the chair next to her as she let our a deep breath.

Looking at her watch, and then her shoes, then the watch on the wall acres from her, to the nurses station, and back to her watch. Fidgeting has always been one of Eddie's tells that she was either nervous, lying, or scared. Most of the time the three bled into each other making her obvious to any one that knew her. And with two of the three categories checked off, Eddie eyes looked like a ball in a pinball machine.

Settling on the figure before her in the chairs opposite her, she realized that the man hadn't looked up the entire time that she had been there. Instead, his head was bowed and looking into his hands. He held what Eddie assumed was a rosary since she could only see a few beads sneaking out of the man's hands and the top of what she assumed was the cross.

The man didn't appear to be that old, but Eddie noticed that he also had no wedding ring on. His hair was too dark to be older, unless he dyed it, but it didn't look like a dye job. Maybe he's here for a friend, or a girlfriend, or maybe his grandfather's here too, Eddie mused to herself. He seems tired though, she thought. Even with him looking down, she could see the bags under his eyes, most likely a product of lack of sleep and worry for whoever he was there waiting for.

Knowing that she wasn't alone, Eddie tried to stop her fidgeting even though it seemed to not bother the other visiter.

After about 30 minutes of sitting and hundreds of looks at the nurses station, willing them to give them information that they themselves didn't have yet, Eddie walked over to the coffee vending machine and slipped in a few notes.

Walking back to the waiting area with two steaming cups of coffee, Eddie slowly made her way to the other patron of the room.

Holding out the styrofoam cup, "Here," Eddie started as the man looked up seeing someone had come and stopped in front of him. "I think it's been a long night and I don't know about you, but sleep doesn't seem like an option right now."

The man nodded and a small smile of gratitude came onto his face, crinkling his blue eyes slightly. "Dats probably true tonight, isn't it? Thanks, miss" He said in an accent that Eddie couldn't place right away, raising the glass as if to toast Eddie. "'preciate it."

Eddie just raised her glass back with a sad smile of her own before she went and set next to her purse.

As she sat and was about to start her habit of checking all the clocks and people in the room again, she heard the man's voice again.

"It's not that I don't thank ye for the effort, but I think this place might be trying' ta make us patients by the taste of this."

Eddie looked up quickly at the man who had not gone back to his rosary and instead was not sitting up a bit straighter, looking directly at her with a twinkle in his eye.

"Yea, sorry about that. I guess I didn't taste the coffee first before I offered. I'm sure it's better than what's in the cafeteria though," Eddie responded with a small smile of her own.

"Ah, dats probably true. You got me there." he said nodding at what she had said. "But, nothing takes the edge off of bad coffee like a smoke."

A frown crossed Eddie's brows as she saw the man stand up and reach into his pocket, pulling out a pack of cigarettes and a lighter.

"That might be true, but you're not supposed to smoke in here." Eddie half whispered, trying not to get the attention of the nurses.

The man bent over to whisper back, "Then it's a good thing I was gonna go outside."

As the man stood up, he winked in a playful way before turning to leave out the main exit.

"Need a break from this room? I don't know about ya, but I've sat 'ere long enough for one sittin'."

Eddie looked from the man to the nurses station before deciding that it might be good to get some fresh air (as long as she wasn't too close to the man while he smoked) and take a break from the constant nerves each time a nurse made the slightest movement or got a call.

Eddie nodded at the man and grabbed her purse before following him out.

A gush of wind had Eddie pulling her sweater closer to her body as they took their first few steps outside. Walking to the side of the building, the man lit a cigarette for himself and looked at Eddie with it in his hands and raised his eyebrows.

"No thanks," Eddie shook her head.

The man shrugged his shoulders and took a deep inhale before dispelling the smoke from his mouth.

The pair stood in silence in the cold early morning until the man's cigarette was almost out.

"So, yer grandfather, eh?" The man looked over to Eddie with a look of understanding on his face.

Meeting his blue eyes, and immediately looking down knowing that he must've heard her conversations with the nurses, Eddie answered, "Yea, my Pa. Got a call at work and got here as fast as I could."

"You like, out in the suburbs then?" the man asked, somewhat confused. "Didn't think traffic was too bad at 1am, even in Boston."

"Oh no, I don't live here. I live in Iowa. I got the call from the hospital and got on the first flight out here. Took me all of 4 hours, but still wish I was here earlier..." Eddie trailed off, knowing that even if she lived in the city with her grandfather, she wasn't a heart surgeon and could't help him.

"It'll be okay." The man said, looking away from Eddie. "God's not taking lives here tonight."

Eddie scoffed, "Yea?" she asked with her brows raised as if waiting for the punchline of a joke.

"Nope, not tonight." The man said seriously, looking up to the sky as it started to flurry. "I've made a deal with 'm and he won't go back on it."

"And what deal is that?"

"That I'll do more and bring more justice to keep the world at peace, but he can't take a life tonight."

Eddie nodded, not entirely understanding, "Uh huh, so he can't take a life and for that you'll live your life better?"

"Something like dat, yea." He responded.

Looking over at the man next to her, she realized that she had placed his accent as Irish, but other than that, his blue eyes, dark hair, and long black pea coat, she didn't know anything about him, or who he didn't want God to take away from him.

"So, who's God saving for you tonight then?" she asked quietly.

"My brother. Connor." he sighed as he finished his cigarette and stubbed it out with his boot on the ground. "Got in a bad way with a few... Bad guys. Rest happened so fast I didn't realize he was down until I thought it was too late."

"I'm sorry about your bother," Eddie said. "I hope your right and that God doesn't take any one tonight."

Her new acquaintance just nodded pensively and looked back up to the sky. Eddie noticed that his eyes had started to become full with tears as he smoked a new cigarette.

Without thinking, Eddie reached her hand over to his free hand and squeezed it light. "Connor will make it. I can feel it."

Squeezing her hand back, the man smiled and responded, "And so will your grandfather."

The two shared a mutual understanding of silence after that, still holding hands as the dark haired man continued smoking his cigarette with long deep breathes.

As Eddie noticed just how cold it was, the doors to the emergency room swung open loudly as the nurse from the desk station came through, looking around until her eyes landed on Eddie.

"Miss Quinn, your grandfather's out of surgery. He's in recovery in the ICU, but we can let you go see him quickly if you'd like?"

Eddie immediately froze before looking to the man holding her hand, eyes large and worried.

He squeezed her hand as he said, "Well go on then. He'll want to see you when he wakes up."

Eddie smiled back at the man and squeezed his hand. She started to walk quickly after the nurse to go inside before she turned around and looked back at the man.

"What's your name? I never even asked."

"Murphy, miss. And yours?"

"Eddie." She said with a smile.

"Nice to meet you, Eddie."

"You too, Murphy." She said as she began to walk through the doors, seeing that the nurse was already looking back at her from a hallway off from the waiting room.

"Murphy?" She said loudly so he'd hear. "I'll be praying for Connor for you. I hope you hear something soon."

Murphy just gave her a half smile and turned back to finish his cigarette as Eddie followed the nurse inside as she grabbed her bag and walked through various corridors find her grandfather.


End file.
